This invention relates to image scanners and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for enabling automatic correction of blue drift which can occur in scanned image data acquired during a scan action.
Currently, many image scanners employ cold cathode fluorescent bulbs as a light source. During a scan action, relative movement between the fluorescent light source and a document being scanned enables capture of the image data from the document. Full color scanners enable acquisition of red, green and blue data during the scan action. A scanner that is capable of scanning a full color image can take up to 8 minutes to complete a scan of a single page due to the large amounts of color data which must be accumulated. For instance, during such a scan, each pixel is represented by (for example) 24 bits of data. By contrast, a black/white image only requires one bit per pixel.
Cold cathode fluorescent lamps inherently exhibit a blue shift in their light spectrum when they are powered for more than several minutes. Thus, during a scan of a full color image (which, as indicated above, can take up to 8 minutes), a significant blue shift can and does occur in the light output spectrum of the fluorescent lamp, which blue shift is detected by the light sensors within the scanner. Such blue shift causes an unwanted blue hue in white background areas of a scanned image, among other color anomalies.
The prior art, in attempting to correct the blue shift phenomenon found in scanners, has attempted to modify the scan head structure to compensate for the blue drift. Such a modification widens the scan region seen by the color sensors and includes a calibration strip. The scanned calibration strip data provides known color values which are used to adjust or compensate the scanned image data when blue drift occurs. Such a solution adds additional expense to the scanning mechanism and is subject to error if the calibration strip becomes occluded via deposited dust.
Accordingly, there is a need for method and apparatus which corrects for blue drift and which avoids the need for modifications to scanner structures.
Further, such method and apparatus should enable the blue drift correction in such a manner as to be independent of calibration strips and the like.
The method of the invention corrects for a color shift in a color scan mechanism. The method initially senses plural component color data that is derived from the color scan mechanism. A determination is made of whether at least one color component value exhibits a value that exceeds a first threshold. The method also determines if another color component exhibits a value that exceeds a second threshold. If it is determined that both of the color components exceed the respective thresholds, then the one color component value is altered to a predetermined desired color value, so as to correct for color shift.